Somalia worst place to be a mother, says int'l charity

LONDON--Somalia is the worst country on Earth to be a mother, according to a report published by Save the Children on Monday which calls for more action to protect mothers and children in crisis-hit areas.

The London-based charity estimates that 800 mothers and 18,000 young children are dying around the world every day from largely preventable causes.

Finding ways to meet the health and nutritional needs of this vulnerable group is particularly vital in fragile states and humanitarian crises, it says in its annual “State of the World's Mothers” report.

Almost a third of child deaths are found in West and Central Africa, while another third occur in South Asia, where high mortality rates are increasingly concentrated in socially excluded communities.

The charity compared 178 countries in terms of maternal health, child mortality, education and levels of women's income and political status.

Somalia came bottom of the global rankings, although only narrowly below the Democratic Republic of Congo — the lowest ranking country last year — followed by Niger, Mali and Guinea-Bissau.